Nuevo Laredo, Mexico – Alejandro Dominguez was the only person brave enough to apply for the job of police chief of this border city.
He took office Wednesday afternoon, declaring he wasn’t afraid of anything. Nine hours later, he was dead, gunned down by assailants in this city on the front line of a turf battle between Mexico’s two main drug gangs.
Councilman Joaquim Trevino called on President Vicente Fox to do more, two months after the federal government sent in 700 soldiers and agents.
“The reality is that there isn’t anyone who wants this job,” he said.
Since January, more than 60 people have been killed in Nuevo Laredo, including Dominguez and six other officials.
City officials had searched for weeks before hiring Dominguez, 52, the leader of the chamber of commerce and a former anti-drug official at the federal attorney general’s office.
Dominguez was the only applicant for the job, which many saw as a death sentence.
“I don’t owe anybody anything,” Dominguez had said before taking office. “My duty is to the citizenry. I think those who should be afraid are those who have been compromised.”
Nuevo Laredo is the busiest border crossing for cargo trucks heading to the United States from Mexico, and U.S. officials have said the violence could threaten trade.
Authorities say drug-related violence in Nuevo Laredo worsened after the 2003 arrest of Osiel Cardenas, the alleged leader of the Gulf Cartel, in the nearby city of Matamoros.
They say accused drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has been fighting Cardenas to gain access to drug-smuggling routes in Nuevo Laredo and other border cities.
A group of Mexican soldiers who defected to join the drug trade have become known as the Zetas, and police say they are responsible for carrying out many of the Gulf Cartel’s killings.
